


A Shot in the Dark

by Chibi_Pix



Series: Going in Blind: Pidge's Adventures [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blade of Marmora Haxus (Voltron), Blade of Marmora Keith (Voltron), Blind Character, Blind Pidge, Canon Divergent, Chief is space dad, Galra Keith (Voltron), Gen, Keith's dad is alive, Minor Violence, bae bae goes to space with her, but I'll put it at Teen for safety, follows canon but not completely, pidge is blind and sassy, typical of a cartoon, we'll call him Chief in this fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-23
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:27:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 17,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23278585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chibi_Pix/pseuds/Chibi_Pix
Summary: Born completely blind, Pidge's world is literally dark. However, that won't stop her from finding her family.With both of her parents and her brother disappearing on the Kerberos mission alongside the pilot, Shiro, Pidge had been living with a family friend in the desert, checking data and hoping to find out the truth. In all honesty, she could really say she "didn't see it coming" when a ship crashed and she found herself in an unlikely group traveling through space.
Series: Going in Blind: Pidge's Adventures [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1717885
Comments: 22
Kudos: 64





	1. "What are you, blind? There's an alien in front of you!"

**Author's Note:**

> This AU follows alongside the canon timeline, except with the difference that Pidge is blind.  
> While I don't know too much about blindness, I did try to research some to understand a bit so I could work with Pidge in this regard. Anyway! Hopefully you guys enjoy it.

“I’m going to be honest,” Pidge commented, “but I can definitely say I didn’t see any of this coming.” It was a bit of a joke coming from the teenager, not that the others really picked up on it, but both metaphorically and literally, Katie _Pidge_ Holt did not see the situation that came at them. Not that morning, not that evening, and certainly not a year ago.

A year ago was when everything seemed to start.

Pidge had been blind all her life; she had learned to navigate in darkness and rely on touch and sound to help her maneuver. A year ago, give or take some months, both her parents, Sam and Colleen, and elder brother, Matt, had gone on the Kerberos mission to collect ice samples. During that time, she was left in the care of family friend and godfather, Mr. Kogane; in a more casual way, though, he was often called _Chief_ ; Pidge didn’t know if this was because of his work as a firefighter or if it had been going on longer than that. What she did know, though, was that he was a close friend of her parents, even the best man at the wedding, and when they were going to leave on their mission, he took care of Pidge.

And he continued to do so without being asked when the Kerberos team, her family and the pilot, all turned up missing. The Garrison announced that there was a crash due to pilot error, but Pidge didn’t believe it. And being blind didn’t stop her from trying to find the truth. So, she took to building satellites, testing different connections and signals, studying and listening to the data she would retrieve, both from hacking into the Galaxy Garrison and from space. At one point, she picked up on alien radio chatter, though she had to work on translating it, able to find a frequency it came through in and translated it to binary coding. On top of this, she picked up on strange readings out in the desert she lived in.

One day, about a year after the failure of the Kerberos mission, the readings Pidge got were getting abnormally and interestingly stronger, both from the desert and at the edge of their solar system.

Long story short, a space ship had crashed and Shiro, the pilot from the Kerberos mission, was on it, as well as an alien that turned out to be Chief’s son; according to Chief, he (Keith) and Pidge met when they were much younger, though they were both too young to remember; even if they weren’t, Pidge never would have seen him. On top of that, Pidge met Hunk and Lance, two cadets from the Galaxy Garrison who sneaked out to see the crashed ship; they helped Keith break Shiro out when the Garrison tried to capture and quarantine the pilot. They would have been caught, Keith especially, had Chief not gone out to investigate and help them out.

The following morning, they went out to what Shiro and Chief both called the _blue lion_. Pidge recalled readings from the desert and alien radio chatter talking about a lion and Voltron. Coming across it, which was frightening in of itself since they fell down a water-filled cavern and Pidge absolutely could not swim, Pidge had been startled again, seeing for the first time, even if the vivid images were in her mind. She saw five lions, each a different colour, come together to form a giant robot; the only one who didn’t see it was Chief.

To continue, Lance somehow ended up piloting the lion, which was oddly a ship, and took off for space where they attacked an alien ship and led it away from Earth. A wormhole showed up, not that Pidge could see it, they went through, and found themselves on a new planet with what seemed to be a castle. In that castle, the group met Coran and Princess Allura, the last two Alteans who had been sleeping for ten thousand years in cryopods.

It was a lot to take in and it was only growing from there. They were in danger and needed Voltron. Allura felt that the others, even Keith who she didn’t seem to like, were meant to be the paladins of the lions. In the end, Keith remained at the castle until the red lion could be located, Lance took Hunk to find the yellow lion, and Coran was explaining a shuttle pod to Shiro so they could go find the green lion for Pidge.

On top of it all, neither Pidge nor Chief decided to tell anyone she was blind, as per her request so she wouldn’t be pitied or treated like she was helpless, and the others were quick to assume she was a boy; she and Chief went with it just to see how long it would take them to realize she was not. It was amusing.

“Now you be safe out there, Pigeon.” Chief told the small girl as Coran gave Shiro a bit of a crash course in hoping he wouldn’t, well, crash the pod. “You got Bae Bae, though, she’s got yer back.”

“I’ll be fine.” Pidge nodded.

“You sure you dun want me tellin’ the princess?” Chief was clearly concerned. “This is...”

“Lance could hear the voice of Blue, right?” Pidge inquired. “Maybe Green will be the same for me and I can still fly her blind.” She smiled. “You know I’ve always wanted to be a pilot… this may be my time.”

Judging by the sigh, Pidge could assume Chief was smiling a bit. “Yer growin’ up real good, Pigeon.” he told her softly. “Yer ma an’ pa would be so proud to hear of this when we find ‘em.”

“Pidge, ready?” Shiro called from the pod. Near him, Bae Bae, a bull terrier and Pidge’s occasional seeing eye dog, barked to get her attention. Bae Bae was not officially a seeing eye dog, but she did help out with a lot of things.

“Yeah, I’m ready.” Pidge nodded. “And you make sure Keith and Allura get along; she seems a bit upset about him. It’s that Galra thing, right?”

“Yeah, it is.” Chief nodded. “Now git yer rear movin’ kiddo. You got a lion to find.”

“Right.” Pidge ran to the pod, getting in just as Shiro put Bae Bae in, not minding that the dog would be joining them. When given the _all clear_ , Shiro took off, heading for a wormhole that Allura opened up for them to use. When through, they found themselves at jungle planet. When there, Shiro noticed a boat on a river they came across while following the tracker. The sound of a sloth-like alien startled Pidge and prompted her to climb onto Shiro’s shoulders; with Bae Bae not acting aggressive toward it, she found herself relaxing and climbing down. Then it was into the boat.

As they were guided through the river, Pidge couldn’t help but wonder if she really could pilot the lion. “What if… she’s wrong?”

“Hmm?” Shiro looked past the sloth to see Pidge at the front of the boat.

“I mean… what if she’s wrong about me being able to pilot the green one?” Pidge inquired. _I’m blind after all._ She added as a thought. “I’ve read manuals and I would fall asleep listening to audio files my dad made of him reading flight manuals for me, but… I don’t have experience. What if I can’t reach the pedals? What if there aren’t any? What if the lion doesn’t accept me? What if-”

“Settle down, Pidge.” Shiro chuckled a bit. “You don’t need to get worked up.”

“But...” She looked back at Shiro.

“You know, many times, a very wise man would remind me that _if you get too worried about what could go wrong, you might miss the chance to do something great_.” he stated. Pidge blinked; she recognized those words very well. “Your father’s the smartest man I know and it was that reminder that helped me become one of the top pilots, as was my dream.”

“How...”

“You look so much like Matt.” Shiro chuckled, knowing Pidge wondered how he knew she was Samuel Holt’s child. “Though why you’re posing as a boy...”

“I’m not posing… I just didn’t bother correcting anyone when they mistook me for a boy.” Pidge shrugged. “Chief and I are waiting to see how long it takes the others.”

“Hmm… seems like a fun game.” Shiro sounded amused.

Hearing him, Pidge smiled. She then thought about the situation. Shiro knew she was Katie, but did he know she was blind? Before meeting after the crash, they only ever heard each others’ voices over communications when Shiro would contact her parents or brother, going over the mission details several times. Did they tell him she was blind? Probably not; her family didn’t always announce that Pidge was blind unless it was for her safety.

“Thanks, Shiro.” she said. She then smiled when Bae Bae nosed her before snuggling in. After they got to the another location, they disembarked and headed toward what Shiro could only describe as a temple. When she was near enough, Pidge could feel a sort of tug, a distant calling.

“Go on, Pidge.” Shiro prompted. “Be great.”


	2. "Technically I'm not flying with my eyes closed."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flying a Voltron lion blind shouldn't be too hard, right?   
> The paladins are onto the next step to forming Voltron, but they need four lions to get the fifth and being blind isn't going to stop Pidge from doing her mission and helping others.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some illustrations are in this chapter.   
> Thought I'd let you know.

Pidge was not afraid of heights; perhaps it came from the fact that she was blind and could not see the drop. Though her father would worry greatly, she would climb trees plenty of times, even proving to be better and safer than her brother at the pastime; her mother speculated that it was because Pidge relied so much on touch instead of sight, she had a better understanding of how to hold and where to move. In the end, Pidge was skilled at climbing the mass of roots and vines, making her way to the top of the temple where she hoped to find the lion.

But nothing was there.

She couldn’t feel for it anywhere on top. Stumped, she tried to figure out where it could be; she swore she could feel it. Then came a roar beneath her. “There!” She nodded and found a gap in the roots. She slipped down and carefully made her way through. Though careful, she was definitely quick. She kept on climbing until she heard a different sound from her shoes hitting the roots.

_Clunk!_

Metal. “Found you!” Pidge grinned. She got down on her knees and felt along the lion, wondering where she landed and how to get inside. Beneath her hand, she felt a square hole open up and a sensation in her telling her to enter. “Here? Are you telling me I can enter?” she asked. She nodded and got herself situated, changing her position so she could drop in feet first. Landing with ease, she was surprised to find herself in the cockpit.

“Okay, where do I...” Pidge stopped. When they were in Blue, Lance said it was like the lion was putting thoughts and ideas into his head, not exactly using words. It was pretty much a feeling provided to him by the blue lion. Now that she was with Green, Pidge understood more. With that, she knew where to go to sit down. “Let’s see if we can do this.” she stated, putting her hands on the controls.

She didn’t quite know how to describe it, but Pidge felt like her senses were increased tenfold. She could feel so much around her… around Green. “So, this is how I fly, feeling my surroundings through you. Great!” She nodded and took the lion up, bursting through the vines.

-+-+-+-

Run away and survive or take the chance to form Voltron. These were tough choices and the team was divided on the situation. Pidge and Keith both felt that they needed to try and fight, but Hunk and Lance felt they should flee. Allura was under pressure, not sure what to do. But thanks to an AI of King Alfor, her father, she came to the decision that they would get the red lion from the Galran commander’s, Sendak, ship as it came into orbit around Arus, the planet they were on.

In a matter of moments, Allura got the others suited up in their armors and equipped with their weapons. “These are bayards, the traditional weapons used by the original paladins of Voltron.” Allura explained, the hand-held objects levitating and going to each paladin, save for Shiro. “Unfortunately, Shiro, your bayard was lost with your predecessor.”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure I can improvise.” Shiro assured.

“So… what do they...” Keith looked over the weapon in his hand before it turned into a sword. He looked to the tech on his arm as it formed its own, personal, particle barrier he could use as a shield. “Whoa.”

“As you can see,” Allura spoke up, “the bayard takes on different forms, tailored to the needs of their paladin.”

“Impressive.” Keith nodded.

“Hmm… uh...” Hunk was surprised when his took on a sort of large gun, like a portable cannon. “Oh boy...”

Lance was rather impressed as his took on the form of a sort of gun. “Oh yeah, baby, all my training will pay off.” He closed one eye and looked around, as though he was taking aim.

“Training?” Keith inquired.

“He means those first-person shooter games he plays when we go to the arcade.” Hunk responded with an amused chuckle. “He’s actually pretty good.”

“Hopefully he’s better at shooting than he is flying.” Keith smirked; Hunk snorted at the comment.

Pidge ignored them for a bit as she felt her bayard take on a form. She felt along it, able to tell with ease that it was a staff. She felt along the ends of it, _seeing_ that both ends had a slightly larger shape to them.

“Oh, you got a cute bayard.” Lance’s voice was near and almost teasing.

Pidge grunted before quickly swiping the staff at his feet, catching him off guard and tripping him with ease. As he went down, he yelped in surprise and accidentally fired off his bayard a few times, making the others recoil with surprise at that. “Yeah, it is pretty cute.” she commented before jabbing him in where she assumed his abdomen was, causing him to cry out as he was quite literally shocked.

After Lance had recovered, the group went over their plan to get the red lion. Chief, though, wasn’t exactly feeling for the idea they came up with, having Hunk and Lance draw Sendak’s attention while Pidge, Keith, and Shiro went in to find the lion.

“Princess, I ain’t so sure of things… Pidge is still a child...” he said, voicing his concerns. “An’ Hunk an’ Lance ain’t much older...”

“I understand… and had the circumstances been different...” Allura shook her head.

“We’ll be fine.” Shiro assured. “The lions are strong, so Hunk and Lance should be fine.”

“Should be?” Hunk asked, looking a little nervous.

“And Pidge is just covering the exit for Keith and me; if trouble shows up, he can get to the green lion quickly.”

Chief sighed. “Okay, I guess...” he said, though he didn’t seem entirely convinced. “An’ Keith, you be careful, too, got it? I know you’ve been trainin’ an’ all, but I still dun want anythin’ happenin’ to ya.”

“I’ll be fine, Dad.” Keith nodded.

“Then let’s go.” Shiro declared, heading to the green lion with Pidge and Keith. Pidge got to the pilot’s position and sneaked in toward the Galra cruiser as Hunk and Lance went to distract the commander. When inside, Pidge moved to hunker down and keep aware of her surroundings so she could cover their exit, but Shiro seemed to have repressed memories come back to him. He had been there before.

He had been held captive on the ship. As had Pidge’s family.

“We don’t have time, Pidge; we need to get the red lion and return to Arus.” Shiro reminded, a hurt look on his face. He wanted to find them, too, but they had a mission.

“And then what? Attack the ship as Voltron?” Pidge snapped. “Any prisoners here could get hurt or worse. Not just family family, but innocent lives!” She grumbled. “Fine, I’ll find them myself!” She turned to leave the other two paladins.

“Pidge...”

“Shiro,” Keith spoke up, “we can do both.”

“What?” Shiro turned to face the Galra.

“Lance could feel the blue lion and Pidge and Hunk found their lions by feeling for them. I… I don’t know how well I can, but I can try to find the red one that way, plus I know these ships fairly well, it shouldn’t be too hard locating it.” Keith explained. “Allura input the basic schematics of the ship I gave her to our armor; it should help you locate the prison cells.”

“Are you sure?” Shiro inquired.

“I’ve got this.” Keith nodded.

“Okay. Be safe.” Shiro reminded before taking off. “C’mon, Pidge, we need to hurry.”

“Right!” Pidge confirmed. “Thanks Keith.” she told the Galra, missing his thumbs up. She then took off after Shiro, keeping close on his heels. They ran down corridor after corridor, Shiro checking the map on his tech and comparing it to what memories he did have. “Hold up!” Pidge had picked up on a beep. She used her bayard in its staff form and smacked something, a pyramid-like drone, out of the air, sending some electric shocks into it.

“It’s a security drone, I think.” Shiro reported. “And it definitely saw us. We need to move. Quick.”

“Wait a moment.” Pidge knelt by it, getting it open with ease. “I think I may actually be able to hack into it and reprogram it to assist us.” She may have been blind, but Pidge knew her way around technology; this thing being alien tech was not going to stop her. “And done!” She got up when it rose and beeped at her.

“Good work, Pidge.” Shiro was impressed. “Now let’s get going.”

“I think I’ll call you… Rover!” Pidge grinned. “Follow me!” She then took off after Shiro, the drone now trailing behind her. Perhaps this would be useful. Taking Bae Bae into battle would be dangerous, thus why she was at the castle waiting for her. But Rover was a drone and could easily help her out in a fight. Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Personally, when I first started drawing Pidge for this AU, I couldn't resist doing the bayard scene. And honestly? I almost forgot to write it; thankfully I remembered so you could fully enjoy that.


	3. Going in Blind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a lot to learn and understand when you're a first time pilot. This redefines "going in blind", right?

“There are a lot of cells… and they could be empty.” Shiro pointed out when they reached the prison ward. He then looked down at Pidge, the smaller paladin’s eyes shut in concentration. “Pidge?”

“Shh.” Pidge hissed. She was listening. He was right, many were empty. But not all. No, there was one she could hear sounds coming from. The occasional shuffle, whimpering, and gentle reassurances sounding from it softly. “Found them.” She then took off, heading for one cell, the only one she heard sounds in. “Okay, Rover, open this one.”

With a beep, Rover moved and scanned the panel by the door, causing it to slide upward.

“Mom? Dad?” Pidge called when she could tell the door was open enough for her to get in. “Matt?” No voice she recognized responded and those there sounded like they were cowering, some even whimpering more.

“They’re not here...” Shiro sighed. “I’m sorry, Pidge...” He put a hand on Pidge’s shoulder before looking to the prisoners. “It’s okay, we’re not here to hurt you.” he assured them, stepping forward. “We’re going to help you escape.”

“Wait… it’s you.” one alien said, his voice telling Pidge he was older. “You’re the Champion.” Was that fear Pidge heard? Or hope? “If anyone can help us, it’s him.” He was encouraging the others.

“You know me?” Shiro inquired. “And… that name...”

“Shiro, the other cells are empty and we need to get them out; let’s go.” Pidge prompted.

“Right.” Shiro nodded. “Take the rear of the group, I’ll lead us to the escape pods.”

“Copy that.” Pidge waited until she heard everyone get up and follow Shiro before taking off after them. It didn’t take too long before they found the escape pods, Pidge using Rover to help hack into one so it could be used to get the prisoners safely to Arus. Before Shiro could hear, let alone see, anything coming, Pidge picked up on the sound of metallic footsteps hitting the floor. “Shiro, we’ve got company!”

“What?” Shiro turned his attention in time to bring up his shield, blocking shots from some sentries. “Nice catch, Pidge.” He glanced over. “The pods open; you guys get in!” he ordered the prisoners. He then felt a sensation in his mechanical arm, one he didn’t expect. He didn’t recall much, his mind going hazy, but clearly he acted strange when Pidge called his name and asked what’s wrong.

“Shiro? Shiro!” Pidge called. She then heard him fight. Metal hitting metal. _He’s using that prosthetic to take down the enemies. And it sounds like they’re robots of sorts._ She thought, evaluating all that she could based on sound.

“Pidge! Watch out!”

Pidge was so focused on Shiro, she didn’t hear sentries coming from the other direction. After his warning, though, Rover beeped in different locations, prompting Pidge to hit near those areas. She could feel her staff make contact with metal. _More robots._ She nodded. “Okay, Rover, keep calling them out for me.” she told the drone and it obeyed. She was right, Rover was definitely good for her in combat.

“Pidge, you okay?” Shiro asked when they took down the sentries.

“Yeah, you?”

“Hmm.” Shiro nodded, though Pidge missed it; thankfully the grunt he made was positive enough in sound for her to detect that as confirmation. He then looked to the pod as the doors began to shut.

“Thank you, Shiro.” the older alien responded before the doors fully shut and the pod left.

“Uh...” Shiro wanted to ask how they knew him and about the name _Champion_ , but he didn’t get to. “Maybe they can tell me another time...”

“I hope so.” Pidge mumbled. They knew Shiro, so perhaps they knew her family, too.

 **“** **Guys, are you there?”** came Keith's voice over their comms.

“Keith? Are you okay?” Shiro inquired. “Have you found the red lion?”

 **“Found, extracted, and helping Lance and Hunk.”** Keith responded.

“Good, we got the prisoners out, so we’re heading back to the green lion.” Shiro informed. “Let’s go, Pidge.”

“On it!” Pidge responded, following Shiro back to their entry point.

-+-+-+-

Get back to Green? Easy. Unseal the black lion? Check. See if she accepts Shiro, like Allura anticipated? Done and done. Successfully fly Green in the heat of battle when no one knows how to actually form Voltron?

 **“Pidge, c’mon, you need to be aware of your surroundings!”** Shiro reminded.

“I’m trying.” Pidge commented. “I’m still new to being a pilot.” She didn’t want to admit that she was blind and feeling with Green was still foreign to her and she didn’t exactly have time to learn, but it was definitely biting her in the tail. Oh wait, that was a fighter ship shooting at her. She managed to turn Green around and crush it in the lion’s jaws.

 **“Well Hunk’s new to this, too, but he’s doing fine.”** Lance commented. **“What are you doing? Flying with your eyes closed?”**

“Sh-shut up!” Pidge flushed. Flying blind was not easy.

 **“Lance, leave him alone;** **this is new to us all.”** Keith reminded.

 **“C’mon, team, we can’t get hostile with each other.”** Shiro spoke up. **“We need to actually work together and form Voltron.”**

 **“But how?”** Hunk inquired. **“We’re trying everything...”**

 **“Let’s try flying in formation; doing so may just… pull us together.”** It wasn’t the best thing Shiro could really come up with, but it was better than nothing. And so they did. But the only tug they seemed to have felt was that of the tractor beam on Sendak’s ship.

They couldn’t give up, though. They had to keep trying; they had to keep fighting. **“Everyone is relying on us.”** Shiro reminded his team. **“We can’t fail… we won’t fail!** **If we work together, we’ll win together! Now let’s do this!”**

“Yeah!” the others, Pidge included, cheered. They had to focus. They had to be stronger. And they were. When they broke free of the tractor beam, the managed to move in formation and form Voltron. It was alarming and exciting. Terrifying and stupendous. But pushing their cocktail of emotions aside, they still had to act and keep the Castle of Lions safe.

After deflecting an attack from the ion cannon, protecting the castle, Shiro gave the command for them to attack again, taking out the cannon first before going in to destroy the battleship further. When they completed their task and it crashed, presumably with Sendak still on board, the others disbanded and landed the lions.

“Wonderful work, Paladins!” Allura praised, walking out with the others. She chuckled when Bae Bae barked and ran over to Pidge, the blind paladin kneeling to pet her dog and introduce her and Rover to each other. “You’ve formed Voltron, well done.”

“Thanks, pretty lady.” Lance smiled, his exhaustion showing through. Honestly, they were all exhausted, physically and mentally.

“We did it. We actually did it.” Shiro sounded to be in disbelief.

“Hell yeah, we did.” Keith agreed, his ears twitching as he pulled his helmet off.

“How’d we do it, though?” Yup, disbelief was obvious in the black paladin’s voice. But he couldn’t really be blamed, it was a lot to take in.

“I was doing a lot of shouting, maybe that helped?” Hunk suggested after managing to pry his helmet off.

Shiro knelt beside Pidge, placing a hand on her shoulder. “And don’t worry, Pidge, we’ll find your family.” he assured her. “We won’t stop searching until they’re found.” He then sputtered when Bae Bae licked his face. “Okay, yes, yes, I’m not leaving you out of this, girl.” he told the dog. “We’ll find them for you, too.”

Allura smiled at the team, though there was a crestfallen look in her eyes. “We may have won the battle, and I truly am proud of you all, but the war has only just begun.” she reminded them; Keith had to keep from pointing out that it had technically been going on for ten thousand years. “Zarkon won’t stop until he gets these lions.”

“Good thing you five know what you’re doing.” Coran mused, messing with his mustache. “This is only the beginning of your work; you’ll need to form Voltron again and again.”

“Yeah, totally, easy pe… wait...” Hunk froze and looked over. “What?”

“Dude!” Lance whined. “We barely survived this time! We have to KEEP doing this?”

“Indeed. And you guys got off easy with there only being one ship.” Coran pointed out. Pidge grumbled under her breath; it didn’t feel like one ship with how badly they struggled. “Wait until you have to fight a whole fleet of them!” Pidge did not like the sounds of that. A whole fleet while fighting blind? She would definitely need to learn to fly with Green better. “It’s not going to be easy being the Defenders of the Universe, but I’m sure you lot can do this.”

“Defenders of the Universe?” Chief spoke up. He then chuckled. “Sounds like a lot. But I think y’all actually got this.” He went over and pulled paladins all into a hug. “But y’all be sure to be as safe as you can be, ya hear me? An' watch each others’ backs.”

“Oh c’mon, Dad! You’re squishing us!” Keith called out.


	4. "It's a lot to take in, man."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With a rude awakening, it's time for the paladins to start training.

Pidge fell asleep in the room she could only really describe as a sort of medical bay. She curled up on the floor, Bae Bae just as cuddled in against her and Rover seeming to keep vigil. But there was a reason why she fell asleep in there rather than on the bed in the room given to her; she wanted to wait for the prisoners from Sendak’s ship to wake up so she could ask them about her family.

At some point during the night, Chief had entered the room and put a pillow under her head and a blanket over her body. While most would have moved her to her room, he knew better. Everything Pidge was experiencing there was new and he was fully aware that she may not react well to being in a different room than she remembered falling asleep in. Even at home, she had often would react badly to it, confused without a proper visual and understanding. So the options were either leave her where she was or wake her up; she was exhausted so Chief opted for the former.

Pidge’s sleep, though, was cut short. She shot up when she heard alarms blaring and Allura calling the paladins to arms; this action startled Bae Bae, making the dog yelp and jump to her paws. At first Pidge wasn’t sure where she was, but hearing Allura’s voice, she remembered. Castle. Atleans. Lions. Voltron. All that fun stuff.

“C’mon, Bae Bae! Rover!” Pidge scrambled to her feet, running off to the main deck of the castle. When she got to the room, she found out that the sense of urgency was merely a facade, Allura trying to get the paladins in action and ready for any moment that an attack could happen.

“Really now.” Allura huffed. “Look at you! Only Shiro’s the one who came prepared in his armor. Though admittedly, Keith, at least you’re in some form of armor.” Keith grumbled a bit, rubbing the sleep out of his eye. He was still in his original armor, the outfit Pidge learned was common for Blade of Marmora agents in general. “But Pidge, Hunk, not only are you two out of uniform, but you’re also without your bayards.” With the tone of her voice, Pidge could imagine that Allura had her arms crossed and a look of disappointment, borderline anger, in her gaze. “Even Chief had shown up vargas ago to help out.”

“Yeah, well,” Hunk tried to stifle a yawn, “he wasn’t the one who had to battle some angry, scary space cat.”

“Anyway!” Allura gave a frustrated sigh. “There are only four of you here; where is Lance?” As if on cue, he walked in all refreshed, in his pajamas and robe, and with blue lion slippers to match.

“Good morning, everyone.” he greeted, sipping a drink in his hand. “What’s going on?”

“Well, if you must know,” Allura was annoyed at this point, “Coran and I have been up for vargas and working to get the castle back in order. We had to run tests on the alarms and I thought it was an opportune time to test you as well.” If looks could kill, her deadpan gaze would get her life in prison with no chance of parole. “Guess who failed.”

“Um...” Lance made a nervous gulping noise that only Pidge seemed to hear.

“Oh c’mon, cut us some slack.” Hunk whined. “You guys got to sleep for several thousand years.” He was utterly defeated on a mental level. “Monday night, I was on Earth. Now I’ve flown through space, fought some evil alien named Zarkon–”

“Technically that wasn’t even Zarkon.” Pidge corrected. “That was a commander, Sendak to be exact.”

“Right, thanks Pidge.” Hunk patted her head. “Fought against Sendak, eaten some goo in a weird castle and I’m pretty sure that goo is, like, ten thousand years old, too...”

“That would explain why it had this… stale taste to it at supper last night.” Lance interjected. “I mean, I don’t know what to compare it to...”

“Altean goo is new to me, but yeah, it’s got a distinct stale taste.” Keith agreed with the blue paladin. “And yet it still tasted better than typical rations found in much of the empire, but not as good as the stuff the Blade of Marmora uses.”

“Yeah, my point being, it’s a lot to process in… um…” Hunk blinked. “What day is it again?”

“Ah, it’s the third quintant of the Spicolian movement!” Coran responded. That didn’t help Hunk one bit.

“Wednesday, I do believe.” Keith informed.

“Ugh...” Hunk whined. “See? It’s a lot to process!”

“Beggin’ yer pardon, Princess,” Chief spoke up, “but you gotta remember, they’re a bunch o’ kids; they ain’t used to this stress. Try an’ let up a bit, will ya? At least till they’re on their feet and in a groove?”

Allura sighed. “I wish we had that luxury.” she admitted. “But our mission… there’s a lot at stake.” She brought up a digital map. “While the castle had been in its state of hibernation, it had been able to pick up these distress beacons from the following locations. As you can you see, the Galra… er…” She gave Keith a nervous look. “Zarkon’s forces have been conquering a lot of territory… and most of the known universe is under his control.”

“You don’t need to dodge around the phrase _Galra_ just because I’m here.” Keith informed Allura. “I, and I’m sure the others, too, know you mean those who follow Zarkon.”

“Right.” Allura nodded. She then showed where Earth’s galaxy was, zooming in to show where its solar system was within it. “Earth is here. If nothing is done, an attack there is inevitable, especially since they may know more about it being there since they tried to track the blue lion.”

Allura let that sink in. “We need to free the planets that have been captured and enslaved by Zarkon, push the Galran empire back.” she informed. “We’re getting the castle ready to leave Arus, but that will take some more time. However, that is also perfect for you. You need to learn to form Voltron on your own so we can begin fighting this war and bringing peace back to the universe.”

“Well, there’s no time like the present.” Shiro nodded. “Let’s get to our lions and start training.”

“But what about the prisoners we rescued? I wanted to talk to them.” Pidge spoke up.

“That would be a negative, Number Five.” Coran declared. He then moved to motion just how small Pidge was. “I have you ranked by height, by the way.” Pidge grumbled at him. “Anyway! The prisoners should remain in the cryo-replenishers until tomorrow; they’ve gone through so much, they need the recovery.”

“If they end up wakin’ ‘fore you finish trainin’,” Chief added, “I can ask ‘em ‘bout yer folks if they’re up to answerin’ questions.”

“Yeah… I guess.” Pidge mumbled.

“Now then, the rest of you suit up and get to your lions.” Allura ordered.

Pidge didn’t know how much she going to like training, but she knew she had to, especially to fully learn how to fly Green blind; if she was going to fly without the others finding her to be helpless, a liability, or someone to coddle and protect, she had to learn how to do so. So, she told Bae Bae to stay with Chief and then went on to her lion’s hanger, taking the zipline that led from the bridge to where the lion resided; it was actually fun to the small paladin. Once in her lion and with the others, though Hunk took longer to join them, they decided to fly in formation.

At first flying in formation was not going well. Pidge kept swaying, often bumping into the black or yellow lions or going too high or too low. It frustrated her, especially when the others kept reminding her to keep her position and watch where she was flying.

 _I can’t let them know… not yet… not yet…_ Pidge bitterly thought as she fought the urge to cry. “Look,” she told the others, “I’m still new to this. I’m trying my best so get off my back...”

 **“Whoa, dude, chill, we’re just trying to help.”** Lance stated.

“No, you keep nagging me!” Pidge snapped.

 **“Okay, Pidge, deep breaths.”** Shiro coaxed. **“Just… breathe in,”** he did that with her, **“and out. Look, I know it feels like we are nagging you, but if we’re going to protect the universe and find your family, we need to really learn how to work together. And that includes helping you get the hang of flying; we won’t get far if you can’t fly.”**

“I know… I’m just… I’m still getting a feel for things, okay?” Pidge informed them. _That’s right. I have to feel through Green, understand her space and surroundings. Right. Right. I can do this…_

 **“Ready to try again?”** Shiro asked.

 **“Actually, Paladins,”** Allura spoke to them through the comms, her face showing up on screens in each of their lions, **“I think I may be of some help to get you to form Voltron.”**

Pidge froze. “I don’t know if I like that tone in your voice...” she mumbled, her eyes wide. “I have a very bad feeling about this...”


	5. "I know I should be worried about them, but even children must learn."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Training isn't so bad.   
> Except for when it absolutely sucks.

She hated it. Pidge hated it more than the time Matt took her to a lake to learn to swim and something snagged her ankle; she freaked out and never attempted to swim again. But this? This left her with a burning hatred and anger rather than fear. Allura had used the castle’s defense systems to attack them, trying to _inspire_ them to form Voltron. She ended up sitting on the floor at Keith’s feet when they returned to the common room, hugging and petting Bae Bae who did her best to comfort her.

When Allura and Coran entered the room, they were talking about the status of repairs to the castle. That was when Allura noticed them and got excited, thinking that they succeeded. Nope. They didn’t. Far from it, really. When the shooting stopped and the particle barrier dissipated, they flew back in to the castle.

“We really need to be out there training.” Shiro reminded the team, showing to be a bit disappointed in them. He couldn’t blame Pidge for wanting to find her family more than anything or Hunk for wanting to go home, but he knew the situation was dire. “If we don’t figure out how to fight Zarkon, there won’t be an Earth for us to return to.”

“Yeah, but how?” Lance asked. “We can’t figure out how to form Voltron again.”

“Well, considering that you were all probably going on survival instincts, it doesn’t surprise me.” Coran informed them. “The original paladins had fought hundreds of battles together, even before there was a Voltron. They were much like a pack of yalmors linked at the ears.”

“Considering most of us literally just met the other day?” Lance asked. “Yup, that’s not us one bit.”

“Indeed, so you should be working on your general teamwork first. I actually suggest the training deck.”

“Training deck?” Hunk inquired. “And you didn’t think to tell us of this sooner?”

“It was out of order, but I do believe we’ve got it up and running enough for use.” Coran informed. He led the group to the training deck, showing it to be a large room. He went to the observation tower, Bae Bae with him, and went about to instruct the group.

 **“Okay, testing, one two, one two…”** He was checking out the PA system. **“Alright! The paladin code demands that you put the safety of your team above your own. So there’s a swarm of drones about to attack!”** Each paladin’s shield showed up, alerting them that this would be a defense drill rather than offense. **“You need to do all you can to protect your teammates; failure to do so, no one will be there to have your back.”**

Pidge did the best she could. She didn’t bring Rover into the training room with her, wanting to give fighting without him a chance. She did what she could to block attacks as the Altean drones shot at them, but it was not an easy feat for her. Drones did not make too much noise and the constant shooting and sounds the others made kept her from picking up on them fully. Plus, deciding where the drone was aiming was not easy, either.

Pidge was unsurprisingly the first one down. She was thankful for the helmet and visor as she was shot in the face and knocked back. When a hole opened up beneath her, she yelped as she went down. Unknown to her, Coran was observing closely.

Pidge should have seen the attack. The Altean adviser knew that much; the drone was right in front of her and she was looking at it. He then looked down at Bae Bae. “Number Five wouldn’t happen to be...” he asked the dog, prompting her to whine a bit. “Hmm...” He then watched as the others went down, one after another. “They’re going to need some work...” Bae Bae hid her face near her paws as she whimpered.

The next drill was an interesting one and one Pidge found she could like. An invisible maze. Sure, it would shock her if she touched the walls, but even if she could see, she wouldn’t see it. No worries! She already heard Lance with Hunk, the two doing fairly well at first, but once Lance kept going into walls, Hunk’s panicking increased until the two couldn’t go on any longer. Oops. But she hoped it would be better with Keith.

Though for the first few minutes, she came to the conclusion that if she didn’t have her helmet on, the others would see her hair stick up on ends. Keith’s judgment was trial and error, trying to understand how Pidge moved and her steps. After those first moments, he was getting her through the maze.

 **“Okay… give me a tick...”** Keith said over the comm, checking the maze to see which path to take. He then gave Pidge the instruction, getting her to move several paces and around corners. She had a memory for instructions, able to recall the number of steps and when to turn very easily. **“Five steps forward, turn left, eight steps that direction, and you’ll be out.”**

“Read you loud and clear.” Pidge responded, moving as instructed. “Five. Six. Seven. Eight! And free!”

 **“Good work you two!”** Coran praised.

“Okay! Bring on the next drill!” Pidge was eager, though perhaps she spoke too soon. She was back in Green’s cockpit before she knew it, trying to fly in formation with the other paladins. _Okay, okay, feel through Green. Don’t bump into the others…_

 **“Okay, Paladins,”** Coran spoke to them, **“this next drill is, well, it’s more of an expert-level one.”**

 **“Then why are we doing it?”** Hunk asked, his voice wavering some.

 **“We’re in a bit of a rush, so we’ll need to do what we can.”** Coran stated. **“Anyway, to form Voltron, you’ll need to have a strong bond with each of your lions; feel like you are one with them.”**

 **“That’ll be easy!”** Lance had that smug tone in his words, Pidge was pretty sure she was rolling her eyes at him. **“Me and Blue are best buds for life, for real!”**

 **“You literally just met the lion.”** Keith reminded.

**“Shut up, Mullet.”**

**“It’s not-”**

**“That’s enough, you two!”** Shiro chided the bickering duo.

 **“Well, hopefully this one will be no problem for you then, Lance.”** Coran stated. **“** **Now then, put your lions in a nose dive.”** Pidge wasn’t sure she was liking this, but she did so. **“Now activating training helmets.”**

Training helmet? Pidge didn’t notice anything different, but judging by how the others gasped and Lance was freaking out about not seeing, she figured it was a visual thing. _So they’re flying blind, too._ She thought to herself.

 **“Now, you need to learn to see through your lions’ eyes.”** Coran instructed them. **“The goal is to pull up before you crash into the ground. Feel what the lion feels, see what they see.”**

Feel? Pidge was sure she could do that to a certain degree; it would just take some practice. But see? Was that possible? Oh who was she kidding, of course it was. She remembered her first glimpse at sight, seeing images in her mind of the lions forming to create Voltron, but could she actually look through the eyes of Green?

There was one way to find out and she just hoped it didn’t backfire on her. Pidge focused, concentrating on her lion. She did her best to ignore the others, from Hunk’s fear to Keith and Lance’s apparent rivalry. _C’mon, see. You gotta see what Green sees._ She told herself.

With how Pidge’s blindness worked, in general, she had no concept of light, shape, colour, or anything else associated with seeing. She couldn’t even detect, like some apparently could, light flashing except through audio cues. So when something flashed in Pidge’s mind, she was surprised. She didn’t know what the colours were, but she could describe them as contrasting, like hot and cold or ones and zeroes.

In her field of vision, she saw the usual darkness. However, this time lines came into view, contrasting that darkness and outlining what she felt was surrounding the lion. This was vision? This was sight?

This was…

Terrifying.

“Waaah!” Pidge yelped, jumping up in surprise before toppling over when the lion crashed into a canyon wall. “What… what was...” She scrambled to sit up at least and sat on the floor, trying to remember how to breathe. “Okay… that just… totally happened...”

At the castle, observing the team, Coran checked his datapad. If he had any doubts before, they were wiped away with this exercise. He checked to see that the training helmets were activated, seeing that only four out of five were. Noticing a few things about Pidge, especially when she didn’t see the drone in front of her face and shoot right at her, he decided not to black out her vision with the flight drill.

“Number Five’s blindness must be one without any sort of visual perception, huh?” he asked Bae Bae, the dog looking up at him with a curious sound. “But not telling anyone about it...” He went into thought before checking the data again, seeing how well Shiro did and how… the others were. Hunk pulled out too soon, Keith and Lance crashed horribly, and Pidge… Had she not been startled by suddenly seeing, he felt she would have been flying almost as well as Shiro.


	6. "Can't say I saw that coming."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As training continues, tensions run high.

“ **Okay, team,”** Coran told the paladins when they were back in the training room, devices of sorts on their heads, **“this next one is probably going to be the most important task. To form Voltron, you need to not only be one with your lions, but also your fellow paladins; you’re five individuals coming together to create one, to create Voltron.”** Pidge took a deep breath. She didn’t know how well this was going to go. **“You need to relax and open your minds. There should be no walls, no secrets between paladins.”** he instructed them. **“Once clear, focus on your lions, forming them in your mind. Bring them together and form Voltron. Keep your minds open, work together.”**

Pidge tried, but honestly, how could she mentally form her lion? Technically speaking, she only saw it once and that was just a flash in her mind. And worse yet, the thoughts and images the others had originally before they focused on their lions unnerved her. It wasn’t because they were bad, far from it, but rather it was like having more images she was not used to in her mind. The colours, the faces, the structures; it was an overload on her.

“Pidge, I understand that you’re analytical and a hacker, but can you not think in binary code?” Keith asked, his words disrupting everyone.

“That’s just the way my mind works...” Pidge grumbled, crossing her arms. “I don’t like this exercise… can’t we… do something else?”

“Pidge, it’s not like an elective in middle school, you can’t opt out of it.” Shiro kept his tone gentle. “And we’re making progress. C’mon, let’s try it again.”

“Ugh...” Reluctantly, Pidge tried again. Even with the others doing well and Coran encouraging them, she just couldn’t get it. Frustrated, she stood up and threw the device off her head and onto the floor. “Ugh! I’m done with this!” she snapped.

“Pidge...” Shiro sighed. “We can’t give up. We’re getting the hang of this.”

“Are we really?” Lance inquired, to which Keith shrugged. Shiro shot them both looks.

“I’m just… tired, okay? This is all new and exhausting...” Pidge mumbled.

“Okay.” Shiro nodded. “Maybe we should take a break.” With confirmation from Coran, they sat down to rest for a bit, the Altean even bringing them packs of what seemed to be water.

“Perhaps a rest would do you five well.” Coran told them. He then looked when Allura and Chief walked in.

“What are you doing lying around?” Allura inquired. “You’re supposed to be training!” She shot Pidge a glare when the smallest paladin made no effort to hide her grumble of annoyance.

“Princess,” Chief spoke up, “they are still kids an’ this is pretty new to most of ‘em. You can’t push ‘em too hard.”

“I must say,” Coran sighed, “I do agree with Chief; they’ve been working pretty hard.”

Allura huffed. “I understand that, but we need to be ready. At any given moment, an attack could happen. If they aren’t prepared...” She looked to the paladins. “It’s time to continue training; you’ll face the Gladiator.”

“The what now?” Hunk inquired.

“I don’t like the sounds of this...” Lance mumbled.

The Gladiator was an Altean robot, not too dissimilar to the Galran sentries. According to Coran, they needed to work as a team to defeat it. That, though, was easier said than done. They weren’t quite a team, not on a mental or emotional level at least. They were disorganized and a mess, none of them really in sync when it came to fighting. Even Keith, who was trained, and Shiro, who seemed to have some experience in fighting for whatever reason that he couldn’t quite remember, struggled to work as a team. Then there was Pidge.

Blind. Normally she would pick up on the sounds the robot made, but there was so much going on, she couldn’t pinpoint it. Then it almost got her in the face, the girl unable to see the attack coming and her ears picking up on everything else. She got shoved back by Keith, the Galran coming between them and blocking the robot’s staff with his bayard-turned-sword.

“What the hell, Pidge? What are you freezing up for?” Keith inquired. He grunted when he was knocked to the side. “Pidge!”

When the robot raised its staff to strike, it suddenly powered down. Allura approached. “Had that been the enemy, they’d have not hesitated to strike you down!” the princess snapped at Pidge. “You lot should have been able to fight it with no worries; it was at such a low difficulty setting, an Altean child would have had no issue!”

Pidge bit her lip before doing her best to glare up at the princess. “Well news flash, while we’re still children, we’re certainly not Alteans!” she snapped. “In case you haven’t noticed, there are no other Alteans besides you and Coran, so get that through your thick skull.”

“Why you impudent little...”

“All you’ve been doing is bossing us around. _Paladins do this. Paladins do that. Paladins fight until you break every inch of your spirit because I tell you to!_ ” Pidge flung her hands up in the air, it was a miracle she didn’t hit the princess in doing so. “You’ve done nothing but push us to the brink without so much of a rest. You want to see progress? Then try actually guiding us and helping us, not locking us out and shooting at us or putting us through hell and back! Hell, Coran’s doing a better job at this than you, trying to encourage us!”

Allura opened her mouth to snap at Pidge, but Coran got between them. “Okay, perhaps now really is a good time for a break, hmm?” he suggested. “It’s been a long day, how about we get a bite to eat? Food can really soothe the mood and give us back our energy.”

“Man, I really could go for food… we didn’t even get breakfast...” Hunk whined.

Allura glanced at Hunk, seeing how miserable he looked and that Lance patted his shoulder, trying to comfort his friend. “You’re right. Perhaps a break is needed...” She turned on her heel and stormed off.

“Pidge, you doin’ okay?” Chief asked, approaching the small girl. He went to put a hand on Pidge’s shoulder, but the moment he touched it, she shrugged it away.

“Just peachy...” Pidge grumbled, walking over to where she could hear Bae Bae panting.

“Pigeon...” Chief sighed.

“She’ll come around, I’m sure.” Keith assured his father.

“Anyway, why don’t the lot of you head to the dining hall; I’ll get some food fixed up.” Coran suggested. And he did. Though actually sitting down to eat was a tricky thing. Before they could dig in, Coran cuffed their hands to either their chairs or each other, prompting them to have to work together and feed one another. The only one actually enjoying it was Bae Bae, the dog happily licking up spilled and flung food.

Then Keith pointed out that they weren’t prisoners for Allura to toy with. One thing led to another, even Coran getting a big defensive over the princess, but Pidge scoffed.

“The princess of what, exactly?” Pidge inquired. “Last I checked, we’re the only ones here and you’re no princess of ours!” Before anyone could have a _Damn, Pidge_ remark, they were left stunned and speechless by Allura flinging food at her. To be honest, while Pidge literally didn’t see it coming, no one else did on a figurative level, even Coran. Then came the all-out food fight.

Perhaps, though, a food fight against Allura and even Coran, when he joined in, was what the paladins needed. Before they knew it, they were working together as a team, aiming to _take down_ a common enemy. With the endorphins high, they set off to form Voltron, succeeding without any issue.

-+-+-+-

“Oh, Pidge!” Allura yelped, sitting in the holodeck where her father’s AI was. She had just turned it off. “I didn’t know you were there. She went over to the green paladin. “Is something the matter?”

“No, just woke up since Bae Bae had to go out and when we were heading back to bed, I heard you talking.” Pidge commented. “And… um...” She fidgeted with the pajamas she actually wore this time instead of her usual clothes. “I wanted to apologize.”

“Apologize?” Allura inquired. “What about?” She motioned for Pidge to follow her and started walking off, her steps light, and gentle. She looked back to see Pidge standing there still, staring at where she once was. _Hmm? It’s not dark… is that not a gesture to follow on his planet?_ She thought, confused.

“About earlier… my outbursts towards you.” Pidge said, looking up as though Allura was still in front of her. She then turned her head abruptly toward where she really was when Bae Bae barked from beside the princess.

“Bae Bae, what’s wrong?” Allura knelt down beside the dog, petting her. The dog simply sat down, nothing wrong at all. Strange. “Anyway, about earlier, Pidge, perhaps I was in the wrong, too; I should not have pushed any of you as hard as I did, but… surely you understand why, right?”

“Yeah… this war with Zarkon.” Pidge nodded. “It’s… it’s been rough with this training… flying a ship of any sort is new to me despite having always wished to be a pilot.” she explained. “Anyway… I just wanted you to know I was sorry for-” She froze; Allura had hugged her.

“There’s no need to apologize.” Allura assured. “I pushed you to the breaking point and frustrated you.” She then pulled away. “Now then, shall we head back to our rooms? It’s late and I’m sure you’ll want some sleep. It won’t be as rough, but I think you should train more tomorrow, all five of you; you’re a team now and need to know how to work together.”

“Yeah, sleep sounds nice.” Pidge nodded.


	7. "Coran, Coran, the understanding man!"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coran is a bit more perceptive than some give him credit for. And more than that, with his experience, he's also a great teacher.

The castle was nearly repaired and training, whether it be in the lions, as Voltron, or in general combat, continued. The day after their first successful attempt at forming Voltron, spurred and inspired by Allura’s food fight, they had a few happenings. Much of the team met the local Arusians, a race of small, bi-pedal and fairly primitive locals to the planet Arus while Shiro and Pidge saw the rescued prisoners wake up and helped them warm up and get fed. It was then that Pidge learned that Shiro had been a fighter in the Galra arena and harmed Matt.

Angered and determined to find information, Pidge and Shiro went to the downed Galran ship, the green paladin working to hack into the ship and download the data to translate into audio files. It was then some strange, enormous coffin of sorts, at least that was how the others described its appearance, showed up; no one, not even Keith, knew what it was, though they were certain it had to do with Galra.

It was touch and go for a while, but they finally defeated the monster that came from the coffin. Afterwards, Shiro explained what happened with Matt, having finally remembered more details. While he didn’t know where Matt was taken, he explained that he only injured him so that they would choose him instead to fight, wanting to protect his friend; of this, Pidge was pleased to learn.

The following day, though, Pidge took to training on her own on the training deck. She had gone back and forth, taking flights with Green and slowly coming to terms with seeing through the lion and fighting drones and robots on the deck, using Rover to alert her to attacks using various sound cues. All the while, Coran was observing her, keeping a close eye on her.

Coran was worried; who wouldn’t be when they were certain that someone was thrown into a war, completely blind to what was around them? However, he knew that there were many species throughout the universe, some even completely blind but able to function and even fight if and when needed. Watching Pidge, he could tell she was adapting to fighting very quickly. It had not been long since she became a paladin, but she learned and adapted quickly.

He watched as Pidge took down the training robot, shorting it out with the electricity conducted by her staff. He honestly felt it was the best weapon for her; with her size, it would help compensate, letting her have a longer reach; with her lack of visual, it would help her detect what was around by touch, letting it make contact with other people and objects.

“End training sequence.” Pidge commanded before the next robot could show up. She was done fighting for the time being. Nodding, Coran stepped into the room further, the soles of his boots tapping gently against the metal flooring. “Oh, Coran, I didn’t know you were there.” Pidge pulled off her helmet and turned toward him; he stopped moving. “Huh?”

Rover went over to Coran and beeped several times, though the volume was very low and the Altean only picked up on a few of the tones. “Is something the matter, Coran?” Pidge asked, head to the side. “You’re being silent?”

“Impressive, really.” Coran mused, fiddling with his mustache. “You can’t see me, but you know who I was.”

“What are you getting at?” Pidge asked. “I...”

“...can’t see?” Coran stepped closer. “The others haven’t noticed, I don’t think, but it hasn’t gotten past me.” He noticed Pidge scowl a bit, the expression having a tinge of concern and a dash of dejection. “No worries, Number Five, unless I feel it absolutely necessary, I won’t say anything about it to the others until you’re ready to tell them.”

“Huh?” Pidge made a confused noise; she was sure her expression matched.

“Well, surely there’s a reason you’ve not told the others, and I won’t pry.” Coran pointed out. “In fact, I’m really amazed. Though thrown into all of this, you’ve done so well to pick up the pace and catch up to the others with their advantages of prior training and knowledge. And you’ve learned to use your drone to assist you, too.”

“Rover does a lot to help me, he even helped me confirm you were here.” Pidge stated. “The joy of my increased sense of hearing.”

“Ah, yes, I should have expected that.” Coran chuckled. “Many I’ve seen who cannot see make up that loss with their other senses.” He then went to the side, opening a panel in a wall and bringing out a staff of his own, one just like what the training robot used. “Though you’re doing well in learning on your own,” he stated, Pidge’s attention turning toward him, “perhaps I can help you a bit further. We can do one-on-one training so the others don’t notice, but it’ll help you improve.”

“Do we have time?” Pidge asked. “Aren’t you and Allura getting the castle up and running so we can leave?”

“Yes, but at this point, the computers are just doing the final checks, so I’m free at the moment.” Coran assured as he tapped one of Pidge’s feet with his staff. “And to start, I suggest altering your stance just slightly; while good and stable, it’s hard to move around quickly and throw off your opponents; most you face will be much bigger than you are.”

“Yeah, I kinda get that idea just by being with you guys.” Pidge shifted with each tap Coran made. “But how will this help?”

“Because, you can use your size to your advantage. If an enemy charges at you, you can move just right, lessening the blow if they do make contact, but also throwing them off balance.” Coran explained. “If you pivot on one foot,” he carefully put a hand on one of Pidge’s shoulders, pressing down while using his staff to lift her foot on the opposite side some, “like this,” Pidge did as expected, “then you can not only send them forward, maybe even stumbling, but even get them in the back of the leg with your staff.”

“Oooh! I think I get it!” Pidge nodded.

“Care to try with me? Without the electricity?”

“You?!”

“Now, now, I may not seem like it, but I’m still relatively young and skilled.” Coran readied himself. Certain Pidge would either hear him or Rover would alert her, he didn’t bother warning her ahead of time. Instead, he rushed at her, ready to strike, though he made sure he would be able to stop if necessary. The moment he made contact, as instructed, Pidge spun on one foot and caught the adviser, though a little differently than planned.

Pidge swiped her staff at Coran’s feet, first starting at the front and moving back to make him fall forward in the already-unbalanced position she got him in. As her second move, to ensure he would fall forward, she brought the staff back up and forced it down on his back; it wouldn’t be enough to severely harm him, she was certain, but he could be sore.

“Oof!” Coran grunted when he hit the floor.

“Are you okay?” Pidge asked, dropping to her hands and knees. “I didn’t hurt you?”

“Oh, it’s nothing.” Coran chuckled, managing to sit up. “Goodness, you definitely learn fast.”

“Yeah, that’s what my parents always said, too.” Pidge rubbed the back of her head. “But… did I do well?”

“Better than well, you were amazing.” Coran praised. “Now I’m curious; was it Rover who told you or did you hear me first?”

“Rover was on standby this time; I based it on hearing your footsteps and change in breathing; then the moment you sounded close enough, I readied myself to move for the moment you came into contact.” she explained. “It’s actually pretty easy for me and how I could sometimes avoid bumping into people back on Earth while helping Chief with the shopping. I mean it’s sometimes tricky when there are too many sounds, but...”

“I’m very impressed.” Coran nodded. “Admittedly, I will still probably worry about you in this war, but not as much as some since I’m certain you’ll do well and manage, especially with the team.” Rover beeped as it bumped into his head. “And Rover, yes, yes.”

“Indeed, he’s part of the team, too.” Pidge chuckled.

“Though Pidge, I am curious about something.” Pidge made a curious grunt in response. “Does Chief know? He seems close with you and all, but he definitely hasn’t said anything about your sight...”

“He does know. He’s just letting me do things my way for now so others can see that I am capable.” Pidge stated. “Though he does keep an eye out for me. Thankfully he watches out for everyone, so I’m not singled out.”

“Indeed, once a father always a father.” Coran nodded. “And even a father to many others.”

“This is sounding like a space family.” Pidge commented.

“Oh?”

“Chief’s the space dad, you get to be the space uncle-”

“Thank you.”

“-Allura’s like this older sister, then the others get to be the older brothers.”

“And does that make you the little sister?”

“Oh, you saw through that?”

“Was it supposed to be a secret?” Coran was confused. “Or perhaps you do not feel comfortable as one sex? I can call you a boy instead, if you wish. Or maybe...”

Pidge couldn’t help but laugh. “No, it’s fine.” She waved it off. “I really don’t care what pronouns someone uses for me, it’s not important, even though I am a girl and identify as such. Chief, Shiro, and I just haven’t said anything, just waiting on seeing who finds out on their own and such and how long it takes.”

“Ah, then I shall wait on that, too.” Coran chuckled, seeing the amusement in that. “Well then, shall we get some food? You’ve been training for quite a while, I believe something to help with the energy and strength would do you good.”

“Yeah… that does sound nice.” Pidge nodded, getting up. She then offered her hand. “Am I in the right spot to help you up?”

“Indeed you are.” Coran chuckled, accepting her hand and rising up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Coran teaching Pidge how to move when struck in an attack is one of the things my mama taught me, so I pretty much utilized it for Pidge in moving in a fight. I think it worked out well.   
> Also, I like having a bit of Coran/Pidge bonding. The space uncle needs the love.


	8. "I like peanut butter and I like peanut butter cookies."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ah, a party in the castle! What could possibly go wrong?

Pidge was in the main ship bay where pods were sitting, one of which she was working on; to get out for fresh air at times and for Bae Bae to run in and out, she left the bay doors open. She wanted to improve upon the pods but also take it as an opportunity to learn more about the Altean tech. Thankfully she found some files Coran made a long time ago, talking about the tech; apparently they were video files, but she just was thankful that the audio was mostly clear and where the data was corrupted because of the age, she was able to get it fixed.

As Pidge worked, she heard the familiar steps of Chief’s boots hitting the floor, and by the sounds of that and Bae Bae’s happy barking, he was the only one entering the bay. “Hey, Chief, help me out, will ya?”

“With what, kiddo? What’cha workin’ on?” Chief inquired.

“Can you see if the pod is invisible?” Pidge inquired. She slid out from under the vehicle. “The electric maze is invisible, so I tried to reverse engineer that tech and apply it to this.” She then got up and felt along it before climbing in. “Testing in three. Two. Once.”

“Whoa.” Chief stepped back. “Oh yeah, she’s definitely invisible.”

“Success!” Pidge cheered, hands up in joy. “It won’t last too long, so….” She waited until Chief confirmed it was back. “Okay, about thirty seconds. That’s actually pretty good considering how fast it can go. Faster now with that booster fuel added.”

“Yer definitely enjoyin’ yerself, huh?” Chief chuckled. “Anyway, bit of a party goin’ on upstairs; keen on joinin’?” Pidge only grumbled a bit. “I know it ain’t easy bein’ ‘round others, but I’m sure just a moment or two won’t kill ya.”

“It may.” Pidge responded.

“Pigeon.” Chief shook his head, a look of amusement playing at his lips. “At least come up fer a bite to eat? Just… don’t go for the nunvill.”

“Nunvill?” Pidge inquired, Rover beeping curiously beside her.

“Coran called it the _nectar of the gods_ , but Lance’s reaction said otherwise; even Keith’s pallet couldn’t handle it… and he’s had his ma’s cookin’.” Chief informed. He then nudged where Pidge was, prompting her to use him as support and jump down safely. “Plus, Shiro an’ Allura’s worried yer holin’ yerself up.”

“I guess I could go for a moment…” Pidge nodded. Before moving to leave the bay, Chief messed with her hair, trying to get it slightly tamed. “You do realize my appearance isn’t important, right?”

“Maybe not to you, but the others may question this ol’ rats’ nest you call hair.” Chief chuckled. “Now, let’s get movin’.”

Pidge nodded and went up to where Allura was hosting the Arusians, the princess having decided it would be good to let them see the castle before their departure the next morning. Shiro didn’t feel it was a safe idea, but Allura and Coran both insisted that it would be fine; that didn’t stop the black paladin from going on rounds, making sure things were indeed safe.

Pidge, on the other hand, felt overwhelmed. She tried to focus on certain things, but with the Arusians walking about, being noisy, she was reminded why, despite the heat and how much she sweated out in the desert, she loved the isolation of Chief’s home in the middle of nowhere. Even locating food didn’t help keep her focused. So, she took to stepping outside, not really noticing the princess had been watching her closely and even followed after.

“You didn’t stick around long.” Allura chuckled, catching Pidge’s attention.

“I don’t do well in large groups.” Pidge admitted.

“It is a bit hectic, but they are enjoying themselves, even your fellow paladins seem to be having fun. Well, some.” Allura responded. “You know, we’ve not had much of a chance to get to know each other.”

“True, but then again, it hasn’t been long since we first met.” Pidge shrugged her shoulders. “Besides, what’s there to really know? You’re a princess and know more about Voltron than us and I’m a human from Earth who loves technology and has a dog and we both are stubborn, especially when we argue.” She clapped her hands in almost a sarcastic manner. “There we have it.”

“Well, perhaps we can use this time to talk more?” Allura inquired. “Get to know each other. Why not… tell me about yourself.”

Pidge nearly recoiled. She could tell by Allura’s tone that she was prying for something. _What is she getting at?_ She thought. “Er… well… I like peanut butter. And I especially like peanut butter cookies.” she informed. “But I hate peanuts. They’re so dry. And I sweat a lot. Though… that’s unrelated to the peanuts.” She thought a bit. “Even before I moved to the desert to live with Chief, I sweat a lot. The desert made it worse and gross, but...”

“Well… while I had something more… personal in mind for us to talk about… I guess that is a different sort of personal.” Allura chuckled nervously. “But… I mean… I think you and I may have a lot in common.”

“Um… what?” Pidge raised an eyebrow while Rover beeped beside her head.

“Er...” Allura sounded flustered. “Our parents! We… we both lost our parents.” She then noticed Pidge’s downcast look. “Um… I mean...”

“I know… but… I do hope to find mine… I’ve come so far… I’m not giving up on them.” Pidge responded. “I wish the same could be said for you, but...” Perhaps that wasn’t the best way to say it, but Pidge meant well.

And thankfully Allura knew it. “As do I, but this war has taken its toll… and it has been ten thousand deca-phoebs… er… years, as you Earthlings put it.” she stated. “That far exceeds an average Altean’s life; Coran and I managed through being in stasis.” She then gently put a hand on Pidge’s shoulder, noticing the girl twitch it a bit. “But I’ll do what I can to help you find your family.”

“Thanks.” Pidge smiled.

“And if there’s anything else you wish to talk about, anything at all,” Allura smiled brightly, “then you can just find me and talk, okay? I’ll always lend an ear for listening.”

Pidge still got that sense that Allura was prying for something, but she didn’t know quite what. Perhaps both being girls? Well, she did say that they had a lot in common and something told her that the princess wasn’t blind. She opened her mouth to respond, but there was an explosion that went off in the castle followed by the Arusians freaking out.

“What was that?” Allura inquired.

“It sounded like something getting blown up.” Pidge replied, running inside with Allura following just as quickly. They reached the bridge of the castle at the same time as the others, Coran already there and sorely pushing himself up off the floor.

“Coran, are you okay? What happened?” Allura questioned, concern for the other Altean in her voice. Hunk moved to help Coran to his feet, supporting him.

“I’m fine, don’t you worry.” Coran assured. “I… I don’t know… one moment Lance and I are walking out, then Rover flies past...”

“Rover? But...” Pidge was confused as the drone beeped by her head, showing he’s been with her the entire time. “Wait… Lance was with you?”

“Over here!” Chief called to the others as the dust settled. He was kneeling beside Lance, checking him.

There were some moments Pidge was glad she couldn’t see at all. With there having been an explosion, she could only assume how bad the blue paladin looked. For all she knew, he and Coran were covered in injuries and coated in blood; they could have mangled limbs even. She really hoped that wasn’t the case, though, but if it was, she was glad she couldn’t see it.

“He needs to get to the infirmary; there could be risk of internal bleedin’.” Chief stated. He checked for Lance’s pulse. “It’s soft, but still there, and he’s breathin’ normally; I’m also concerned about the gash left on the side of his head ‘ere; he could have a concussion.”

“But the crystal… it’s the only thing that can power the castle and it’s been destroyed.” Allura informed. “Without it, we can’t use the pods to help him.”

“Then we need a new crystal, but to get one, we need to find a Balmera.” Coran commented.

As if the situation couldn’t get any worse, the king of the Arusians came in, begging for help when he found that they had attackers in their village. But with the castle powered down, they couldn’t even use the lions. No crystal, no power, no lions, and one of their own severely injured.

This was indeed a bad situation that no one was prepared for.

At least until Pidge remembered that she had the bay doors open while working on a pod. She ran off with Hunk and Coran to get them set up with the pod she upgraded while Allura and Keith went to check on the Arusian village. Chief and Shiro stayed with Lance, the two stabilizing him physically as much as they could; being a firefight and first responder, Chief had some valuable skills to help hold Lance over until they could restore power.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I know, no Pidge wanting to leave the team. Things are a bit different, but that's fine.


	9. "Talk about a shocking experience!"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A long night of hard work awaits Pidge as things go from bad to worse in the Castle of Lions.

Pidge waited until she could no longer hear the pod, knowing Hunk and Coran were off on their mission. She then turned and ran back to find Chief and Shiro, deciding to help them out or at least help guard the castle; something seemed off, she could feel it in her gut, and she would be damned if she just idly sat by and let things get worse.

Pidge scrambled to a stop, quickly silencing Bae Bae, who was beside her, when she heard something from the ballroom. Up on a balcony, she hid behind a pillar and waited, listening.

“You don’t want anything happening to your friends, do you?” came a familiar voice. Pidge tried to place it. Oh yes! Sendak!

Oh quiznak. Sendak…

Before Pidge knew it, she heard a pained shout come from Shiro, Chief calling his name in concern.

“Restrain them. And get the crystal situated.” Sendak ordered someone. A sentry? Another Galra?

“Yes, sir.” a different voice said. Another Galra. But Pidge listened to his tone. It didn’t sound like eager and loyal compliance. Reluctance? Guilt? Something along those lines; was he not actually Galra? Or was he like Keith and a good Galra?

“You tried so hard, _Champion,_ ” Sendak spoke as Shiro groaned in discomfort, Pidge’s imagination told her that he stepped down on the black paladin, pinning him in place, “but you have failed. Voltron is now ours.”

“Not good...” Pidge whispered, getting up but keeping low. “C’mon, Bae Bae, let’s go.” She sped off, heading to her room. She managed to get the door pried open. “In.” Bae Bae whined and judging by the sound of her nails hitting the floor, she backed off. “Bae Bae, I know you’re worried and want to stay with me and help me, but I can’t have you getting hurt. Please? Go in.”

Bae Bae whined again, but she walked into the bedroom. She let out a small whimper, as though to ask for Pidge to reconsider.

“If you get hurt, I don’t know how I’d live with that, knowingly putting you in danger.” Pidge knelt before the dog. “So, please be a good girl and wait for me here.” She hugged the dog before getting her room closed up. “C’mon, Rover, let’s see what we can do to delay Sendak.”

As Pidge went through the castle, she stopped as the sound changed. “They must have a compatible crystal of their own… everything’s powering back up.” she told Rover, listening to the hum of the lights coming back on and power being restored to the castle. She then heard talking over the comm. Keith and Allura! She heard Allura mention the barrier being up and keeping them out. “Keith, Allura? You there?”

 **“Pidge? Pidge! Where are you?”** Keith inquired.

“Inside the castle, I’m trying to find a way to delay them, but I think Sendak’s getting the castle ready for departure.” Pidge reported. “He’s got Lance, Shiro, and Chief as his hostages...” She swore she heard Keith gasp out a small _dad_ , worry in his voice.

 **“Pidge, I need you to listen carefully.”** Allura instructed. **“If they’ve begun the launch sequence, then we haven’t much time; you need to shut down the main engine.”**

“Shut down the main engine… got it.” Pidge confirmed. “How do I do that?”

**“By going down to the main turbine; there’s a control panel you can access. If you discconnect the turbine from the central energy chamber, it’ll shut down the engine and Sendak will have to restart all of the systems to get it back online; that may buy us time to find a way in.”**

“On it.” Pidge nodded and took off running. “Okay, Rover, I’ve gotten the castle’s schematics sent to you, you just lead me to where I need to go.” Rover beeped and took the lead, occasionally beeping so Pidge could continue in the right direction.

When Pidge reached the engine room, she went to the main control panel and checked it over, feeling the inside to try and understand what she was facing. Allura told her to enter a sequence, but Pidge couldn’t tell what to do because she couldn’t see it and the turbine was creating interference, causing the comms to go through static. Well, when in doubt, improvise.

And that included trying to short it out the hard way.

Pidge activated her bayard and readied it. “Okay, let’s hope this works.” she mumbled to herself as Rover beeped worriedly. She then jabbed one end to it, sending electricity through the rod and into the control panel. The current was perfect, or not depending on your position, but it came back and shocked Pidge, knocking her back several feet; thankfully it was not off the catwalk.

“Wow, y’know,” she sat up slowly, “I’ve actually been curious about defibrillators. It was an en-lightning experience.” She then got to her feet, a little shakily at first, but she managed. “Anyway, Rover, let’s keep going.” She took off back down the catwalk, heading for the door. When she got out of there, communication with Allura and Keith were once more established. “Okay, good news, I managed to shut down the engine for now. The bad news, I don’t know how the wiring is doing.”

 **“We’ll worry about that later, good work, Pidge.”** Allura praised. **“Now, I need you to get to the particle generator underneath the main hull; you should have the schematics and find it.”**

“Yeah, on it.” Pidge confirmed, going through the halls and slipping around. Once there, Pidge could hear electricity crackling. “Sounds like a lot of open currents...” she stated. Rover beeped several times at her, the paladin listening to the pattern. “Arcs of electricity… okay… Well, Allura did tell me on the way that this acts as a weapon, too, so… let’s not touch that, shall we?” She then listened to Rover’s beeping before the drone bonked into her, knocking her to the side before something, a Galran sentry, could shoot her.

“Oh quiznak!” she called, bringing up her shield until Rover led her to cover. “I didn’t hear them over the electricity buzzing. Okay, Rover, got an exit for me?”

Rover scanned the area before beeping in those usual patterns, the sounds being a language to Pidge. “Wait… two stories up? Seriously!?” she asked. “How am I going to do that?” Rover beeped again. “I don’t think my thrusters can get me up that high, not with the gravity on this planet...” She then felt her bayard shift, taking on a new, much smaller form. “Huh? What’s this?” she asked, feeling along it. “I hope this does what I think it can… Okay, Rover, let’s do this.”

Rover beeped once more before going out, catching the sentries’ attention. It went close to an energy arc, moving just in time for the projectile from a sentry’s gun to hit the arc instead, causing a massive shockwave that destroyed one of the sentries and momentarily shut down the others. It went up to a vent a couple stories high and beeped again. This prompted Pidge to run out and use the new form of her bayard, something akin to high-tech grappling hook, to get her up there, swinging through and yelping in surprise.

“Okay, I actually didn’t expect it to work, but I’m glad it did.” Pidge declared. She then ducked down when Rover knocked into her, managing to dodge a sentry’s shot as it came to. “Yup! Out of here!” She scrambled and took off through the vent before the others could shoot after her.

When Pidge came out of the vents, she found herself in the training deck, Rover informing her of that. She had to run off, though, as two sentries managed to catch up to her. “Okay, Rover, let me know when I’m out of the maze’s zone; we’re gonna keep these guys busy.” she stated. Rover beeped before giving a series of rapid beeps. Pidge tumbled forward, dodging a sentry that nearly grabbed her, and activated the maze, trapping them within. “Alright! Good work, buddy!” she praised. She then got back up and found another vent to go into.

When Pidge came out, she was back in the main turbine area. At first she was frustrated by that, but then she heard the other Galra that was with Sendak. “Hmm?”

 **“Haxus, what is the progress?”** Sendak inquired. Haxus, so that was the other’s name.

“Yes sir.” Haxus responded. “I’m powering up the sub panels now.”

Pidge listened as they went over what they were doing, getting the system back online. It was strange, though. Haxus didn’t sound like he really wanted to, or perhaps that was Pidge just thinking too much into how he spoke; she never actually met him, so she couldn’t gauge how he would normally speak and different tones he would take.

No matter, though, she had to stop him. She managed to find a panel near her location and got into it. “Okay, let’s power up then. And up, and up, and higher than the shock you’ll feel, but...” Pidge smirked. She heard the crackling of electricity and Haxus call out in pain; this prompted her to jump and grab hold of Rover, hovering down and avoiding the shock-wave.

Though electrocuted, and probably worse than Pidge had been, Haxus regained himself, managing to get to his feet. He looked right at Pidge, though she couldn’t see the gaze he gave, but he didn’t move. “The one who originally sabotaged the ship was you? A child?”

“I’m not some child; I’m a paladin of Voltron!” Pidge assured, readying her bayard, the weapon back in staff form, for the fight.

“That does not change the fact that you are, indeed, a child.” Haxus responded.


	10. "That still does not change the fact that you are a child."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge is still determined to do her part to keep the lions safe. But things make a bit of an unexpected turn that she figuratively and literally didn't see coming.

“That does not change the fact that you are, indeed, a child.” Haxus reminded the girl. “That being said, paladin or not, child or not, we needn’t fight.”

“And you expect me to just surrender to you? Hope for mercy?” Pidge inquired.

“No, that’s no-” Haxus didn’t expect Pidge to jump right in to fight him. He pulled out a blade of sorts and blocked Pidge’s attacks the best he could, rather impressed with how well she did despite her size. “Keep fighting all you wish, you’ll only tire yourself out.”

“I’d rather that than surrender!” Pidge snapped.

“There is no need to surrender, neither of us.” Haxus responded. “If you would just stop and pay attention, you’ll see...” He stopped his words. He then noticed that Rover was beeping at times, his ears picking up on some of them. He could barely make it out past the tinted visor, but he did see that Pidge’s eyes weren’t focused at all, just staring off in whatever direction she was facing, occasionally darting at the sounds he or Rover made.

He understood now. She was blind. She was a blind child fighting! Just who in the universe authorized this nonsense!? However, with how well she moved, even smacking him with her staff and shocking him, too, he had to admit she was skilled. Skilled or not, though, the fight was going on too long and he needed to bring the paladin to a stop.

“This ends now, paladin!” he commanded, managing to grab and throw Pidge off balance and almost over the edge and down into the turbine. Almost. Before she could fall, he grabbed her by back of the piece of armor around her neck, like a cat grabbing a kitten by their scruff. “You may not see it, but it’s a long way down.” He heard Pidge stammer, the girl clearly trying to find the words to say to him. “However, I have no intention of dropping you.” He flung her back, causing her to land on the floor. “I am not your enemy.”

“Yeah? Says the guys working with the other guy Hunk described as a space cat.” Pidge grumbled.

“You can’t see this, can you?” Haxus sounded closer. He had knelt in front of Pidge, showing her the blade he held. “You have another member among your allies; he is a member of the Blade of Marmora. As am I.”

Pidge scowled. She didn’t know if she could trust this guy. But then she remembered the tone he had in his voice when speaking to Sendak; it differed in comparison to how he spoke to her. “If I trust you, I won’t end up regretting it?”

Haxus opened his mouth to respond, but Sendak’s voice came over the comm, commanding to know where he was. Silently, he put a finger to Pidge’s lips. “Shh.” He then got up. “I’m here, Commander; the paladin who sabotaged the ship made an appearance.”

**“Surely you eliminated him?”** Sendak inquired.

“Indeed; he had been dealt with.” Haxus lied flawlessly, keeping Pidge’s status of health a secret. “Though I cannot bring him back to you for confirmation; he had fallen down the turbine.”

**“No matter, as long as he’s out of the way,** **I trust your judgement** **; good work,** **Lieutenant** **.”**

Haxus was relieved; the shock-wave Pidge caused shorted out the security camera and Sendak couldn’t see her still there. “I’ll finish getting the ship’s engine powered up then return to the bridge.”

**“See to it. Vrepit Sa.”**

“Vrepit Sa.” Pidge listened. He had that same _I don’t wish to do this_ tone when he repeated what Sendak said. Haxus then cut off communications. “We don’t have much time; he will be expecting progress and my return...”

“Why are you helping him if you’re our ally?” Pidge inquired.

“I’m keeping my cover for as long as possible.” Haxus responded. “But it seems that it’s coming to an end and I need to handle Sendak before he does succeed in taking the lions to Zarkon.”

Pidge listened to how he spoke. He seemed determined to carry out his mission and even to deal with Sendak. This helped encourage her more. “Then let me help; we’re both after the same thing, so...” Pidge prompted. “And before you decline because I’m blind, I’m a skilled fighter. Okay… maybe not the best yet, but...”

“You do prove to be capable.” Haxus admitted. He then sighed. “Goodness… just what was that princess thinking? Making a child, a blind one at that, fight in this war...” He rested his head in the palm of his hand.

“Will you quit calling me a child?” Pidge grumbled. “I’ve got a name, you know. It’s _Pidge_.” Okay, sure, it was a nickname, but it was what she preferred. “Look, are we gonna stop Sendak or what?”

“You wouldn’t happen to have a plan, would you?” Haxus inquired.

“Is there vent in the bridge?”

“Hmm...”

-+-+-+-

Pidge found it surprisingly easy to navigate the vents in the castle. Sure, some were smaller, but overall, she could slip through them with ease. And it helped to have Rover with a map of the castle in it so it could help her through. She found the vent covering leading down into the bridge and carefully removed it, hearing as Haxus entered the area and took his position at the controls.

“It’ll take a few doboshes to get the ship up and running fully.” he said.

“And hopefully there will be no more delays.” Sendak stated, pacing the room a bit. He stepped underneath the vent, not even looking up; he knew nothing of the plan and had no reason to suspect Haxus was against him, so there was no reason for him to do so. “Surely that paladin was no problem for you?”

“A bit of a pest,” Haxus commented, “but otherwise easy to handle.” Pidge could tell that he didn’t fully mean it; she couldn’t help but feel that he was slightly annoyed, or maybe embarrassed, that a blind child had done so well in fighting him. Well, at least he didn’t seem bitter.

“Good.” Sendak commented.

Pidge pinpointed his position; he was right below her. Nodding, she dropped through the vent, landing on the larger Galra’s shoulders. This surprised him enough for Haxus to turn and run at him, his blade ready and slicing through the fabric-like section of the commander’s armor, nicking him enough past his fur to draw some blood.

“You little...” Sendak glared. He used his prosthetic arm to grab hold of Haxus and throw him out of the bridge and down the hall; good throw. He then used it to grab Pidge, crushing her in his grasp. “You insufferable pipsqueak!” he snarled at her. “And you… a traitor...” He looked to see Haxus return, Keith and Allura with him, too; at some point, the barrier must have gone down to give them entrance.

“Pidge!” Keith called, concern in his voice.

“I suggest staying back, lest I crush him here and now.” To prove his point, Sendak tightened his grip on Pidge, causing her to cry out. However, that grip suddenly opened when he was shot in the back, making him drop Pidge. He quickly looked to see that Lance had regained consciousness and had enough sense to take aim and rescue his fellow paladin.

Keith and Haxus darted at Sendak from either side. Haxus with his one blade, Keith with his own blade as well as his bayard ready. With Keith in a more _convenient_ position, Sendak used his prosthetic to slam him into the ground. Haxus slid past him and sliced through the energy tether of the arm, severing it from its base at the shoulder.

“No!” Sendak snapped.

Pidge went up next, going at Sendak with her staff. As Coran had taught her, she kept her position perfect so she could get around him and throw him off balance, even literally shocking him when she slammed the weapon into the backs of his knees.

“Now!” Allura called to the team. Keith took that as his cue to get back up and charge at the commander, kicking him closer to the crystal, just in time for a barrier to come down and trap him there. “Phew...” The princess let out a sigh of relief. “We did it...”

He then went to check on Lance as Allura undid Chief and Shiro’s restraints. “Hey, you doing okay?”

“My head is killing me… but other than that, just fine.” Lance grumbled as Keith helped him out. “Looks like we all did well together.”

“Yeah, we did.” Keith nodded. “Now all we gotta do is wait on Hunk and Coran, then get you properly healed.”

“By the way… was I hit harder than I thought or do we actually have a new person here?” Lance looked to be unsure at seeing Haxus, not recognizing him at all.

“That is what I wish to know about, too.” Allura stated, a glare evident on her face; Pidge assumed it was there judging by the princess’ tone.

“He’s a Blade of Marmora agent like me.” Keith informed, having already noticed Haxus’ blade. “Glad to know we had another ally around. You don’t need to act hostile, Princess.”

Allura looked wary at first, but soon she sighed. Having Keith around did help her understand a bit more that there really were other Galra out there and trying hard to stop Zarkon. She then dipped her head. “Thank you for your assistance...”

“Haxus.” the other Galra responded, knowing Allura’s pause was for him to give his name.

“Haxus. Thank you.” Allura nodded. She then looked to Pidge. “And we need you checked, too, Pidge; you were in Sendak’s grasp, you may be badly hurt.”

“Fine, but then I need to check on Bae Bae, she’s probably worried about me.” Pidge responded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I can while working with AUs, I like the idea of Haxus surviving, whether Pidge keeps him alive for whatever reason or he's actually a good guy. This, my dears, is my indulgence on that.


	11. "I'm blind, not numb."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the castle and team safe at last, there's just one order of business to go over.

Hunk and Coran were successful in their mission. Though it had taken a lot of work, they managed to get the needed crystal and brought it back. Once Sendak was fully detained and the crystal was set up, power was restored to the castle and Lance could be healed in a pod. He wasn’t the only one, though.

Even with the armor, Sendak’s grip was tight enough that Pidge cracked a few ribs. While Pidge assured the others that she would eventually heal, the others, especially Chief, Shiro, and Allura, were insistent that she, too, entered a pod. Thankfully, though, she didn’t need as long as Lance, a few hours really. But once the need for the pods were done and even Lance was awake in about a day, the team set up in the dining room, getting some food, especially for Lance, and updating him on what happened, the blue paladin having spent much of it unconscious and even when he was awake, he was still in a mental haze.

“So that’s how the barrier was taken down?” Pidge asked, gently petting one of the mice with a finger. She chuckled when Bae Bae whined at her. “Okay, girl, I’ll pet you, too.” Allura had informed them that the mice were the ones who brought down the particle barrier.

“Strange, but it was effective.” Haxus mused.

“So the mice were more useful than Keith?” Lance smirked at the half-Galran.

“I kicked Sendak!” Keith responded.

“Yeah, after I apparently shot his arm off and Pidge zapped him.” Lance pointed out, getting some of the details wrong; no one decided to correct him, not even Keith.

“Oh c’mon! I even cradled you in my arms!”

“Nope! Don’t remember.”

“It was a bonding moment!”

“Hey, I can’t remember at all. And if I can’t remember, it didn’t happen.”

“Oh, it happened.” Hunk smirked. He may not have been there, but that didn’t stop him from concocting a plan.

“Huh?” Lance looked over.

“Totally!” Pidge nodded in agreement. In perfect sync, the two decided to improvise, making up a scene that didn’t happen. “ _Lance, please, stay with me. You’ll be fine. I’ve got you, buddy._ ” Pidge played the role of Keith, holding Hunk in her arms and surprisingly supporting his weight; either Hunk had really good balance or Pidge was a lot stronger than the others originally thought. “ _I’ve got you safely cradled in my arms._ ”

“ _Everything hurts, Keith. But… but I trust you._ ” Hunk responded. “ _Oh Keith, you’re so strong and you make me feel safe._ ”

“ _I’m only strong because of you. We’re a team and don’t you forget it._ ” Pidge added on.

“It’s so touching.” Coran procured a handkerchief and wiped the tears from his eyes.

“Wait… seriously!?” Lance exclaimed.

Keith wanted to scream that it didn’t happen _like that_ , but he kept his mouth mostly shut, actually amused by Pidge and Hunk’s ability to act on the spot. “They may have dramatized it a bit much, but… close enough.” he stated, a smirk playing on his lips.

“Okay… I’m going to pray I forget… this,” Lance motioned to Hunk and Pidge, the two grinning brightly, “and move on. To… uh… Sendak! Yeah, what happened to him?”

“We have him frozen in a cryo-pod.” Allura explained. “He’s too dangerous to just keep around; hopefully, though, we can get information from him, or...” She looked to Haxus, the Galra having taken to sitting on the floor and petting Bae Bae when Pidge decided to do her acting. “Haxus, will the Blade of Marmora be able to interrogate him?”

“If we get to a base where I can contact them, I’m sure we can have him transferred to an appropriate location for that.” Haxus responded. “Though I know Sendak well enough; it won’t be easy getting information out of him. Even when he trusted me as his lieutenant, he didn’t tell me everything.”

“Well, however we go about it then, hopefully we’ll get something out of him.” Allura was determined; if they could find anything useful, it could help them in stopping Zarkon. Hopefully.

“Okay,” Lance nodded, “do we have a plan for what’s next?”

“Yeah, we need to return to that Balmera and help Shay and her people.” Hunk explained. When at the Balmera, Hunk and Coran learned that the Balmerans, the local inhabitants of the of petrified planet-like creature, were enslaved, forced to mine and turn over any and every usable crystal the Balmera created. The greed of the empire, though, has led the noble beast to wither away, slowly but surely dying, and it wasn’t painless.

“Man, you really are hung up on this girl, aren’t you?” Lance inquired.

“No, it’s not like that-” Hunk started to deny that.

“Dude, a blind person can see how much you like her.” Pidge commented, smirking at Coran trying to stifle a laugh and Haxus sputtering in response; even Chief was amused as he smirked.

“Um… did I miss something?” Keith inquired, looking around at the others.

“No, no, nothing.” Pidge waved it off. _At least not yet._ “Anyway, Hunk, as you were saying?” She was aware that she interrupted him.

“Anyway,” Hunk sighed, “when you guys see how they’ve been living… how their home’s been treated...” He shook his head. “I kinda understood the bad that Zarkon’s done, but actually seeing how Shay and the others are living, it’s really shedding light on the situation. We need to do our job and be the paladins we’re meant to be. We gotta set our sights forward and help people.”

“Well said, Hunk.” Allura nodded.

“Then let’s get going; we’ve got a universe to defend.” Shiro reminded.

“Um… before we go,” Pidge stated, fidgeting her glasses a bit, “there’s something I feel I should tell you guys. And… well, it may change the way you think of me, but I don’t want you to think any differently.” She took a deep breath. She felt she should tell them that she was blind, but she was honestly worried.

Keith’s ears twitched, able to easily tell that Pidge was nervous. He then smiled and spoke. “Pidge, no one’s going to think any differently about knowing you’re a girl; boy or girl, you’re still you and you’re still a member of this team.”

“Oh c’mon, Keith! This was her moment!” Hunk sighed.

“Really, Keith? Pidge was trying to do this on her own.” Shiro added.

“You should have let her have this moment...” Allura mumbled, resting her forehead in the palm of her hand.

“What? She was looking nervous, so I thought I’d take that weight off her shoulders!” Keith exclaimed, motioning to Pidge. He then looked to Lance, seeing how stunned and speechless he was, his mouth gaping like a fish as he struggled to find the words.

“Okay, first off… Shiro! You knew me being a girl and the others finding out was more like a game than a secret!” she snapped at the black paladin, the older male looking embarrassed at apparently forgetting that. “Ugh… you know what, I’m just gonna treat it like ripping off a band-aid.” She removed her glasses. “I’m blind.” And cue everyone except for Haxus, Chief, and Coran looking stunned. That was the news none of the others expected to hear, even the Altean mice looked shocked. “Um… guys?” Pidge asked. “Did… did I break them?”

“Pretty much.” Chief chuckled.

“Okay… that...” Shiro struggled to find the right words. “That’s definitely something your family never mentioned...”

“I was not expecting to find that out.” Keith admitted.

“Well, that does explain why you don’t respond to visual cues...” Allura pointed out.

“That would explain the lack of reaction when meeting Keith.” Hunk stated.

“Um… yeah. But like I said, I don’t want you to treat me any differently.” Pidge told the others. “I’m still able to navigate my way around places, and with Rover I can do combat more easily, and Bae Bae helps out, too, especially in the castle… and I’m learning to fight and fly; I’m slowly learning to fly with Green and both feeling and seeing through her.”

Allura was the one to speak up. “I’m… I’m worried about this but...” She went up to Pidge and hugged her. “You have done so much to prove you’re very skilled.” she assured. “I’ll always worry, but you’re a skilled paladin of Voltron. But thank you for letting us know. With this, I hope we can help, too, so you won’t have to worry about much.”

“Thanks, guys.” Pidge smiled brightly. “Anyway! Let’s get this castle-ship launched; we got a mission ahead of us!”

“Wait a minute!” Lance explained, startling the others, especially Pidge. “The castle’s a ship and Pidge is not only a girl but also blind?!”

“Looks like it finally sunk in.” Shiro commented.

“Dude! Just how hard was I hit? Or am I still in a coma?” Lance went around and looked at Pidge, getting in her face. No response except for a general blink. He then waved his hand in front of her face.

Pidge scowled. She could hear and feel Lance breathing and the air shifting as he waved. She pulled her bayard from the pocket on her shirt and activated it into a staff, quick to poke him in the stomach and zap him.

“Gaaah!” Lance called out. “How!?”

“I’m blind, not numb.” Pidge responded. “I can feel and hear you in front of me.”

“Ugh...” Lance grumbled, clearly in pain from the shock. “Right… noted...”

Allura chuckled. “Anyway, let’s get off of Arus and start our mission.”

Pidge smiled. The others had, for the most part, taken finding out she was blind well. With that, she truly felt that she would do well as a paladin, supported by her team. _I think I can really do this. Help others and find my family,_ she thought to herself, _especially with this team. This… family._ With a smile, she went up to the bridge of the ship with the others, getting ready for launch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While this is technically over, stay tuned, my dears, for some extra "chapters" for artwork I've done with this AU. 
> 
> As another note, while I'm also working on other AUs, I may even take some time to do other mini stories/chapters tied in with the blind Pidge au. We'll see what happens.


	12. Pictures: "What are you? Blind?"




	13. Pictures: "It's so dark!"




	14. Pictures: "He's so fluffy!"

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, my darlings, this will be the last one here. I hope you all enjoyed and had a good time with this AU. Thank you for sticking with me through it. Until the next story!  
> ~chuu

**Author's Note:**

> I know if feels very quick paced, just skimming through some details, but most of us reading this know the show, so...  
> And the picture is to show Keith with baby Pidge; I thought it'd be nice to put that in since, at the moment, I don't think I have other illustrations that go with this fic that depict him.


End file.
